Comcast Demonstrates IPv6 Transition Readiness at NANOG46

Jun 16, 2009

Philadelphia, PA.

Comcast Corporation Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today demonstrated end-to-end network readiness for the transition to next-generation Internet addressing protocols (IPv6) and will ensure continued support for its customers through this transition.

The demonstration was conducted at the North American Network Operators Group's 46th meeting (NANOG46) being held this week in Philadelphia. At the same event, Comcast also announced the availability of national high-speed Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) transit for wholesale customers, such as web hosting companies, that connect to Comcast's fiber network to transfer data to their customers.

IPv6 is the Internet community's solution for creating additional IP addresses that will be needed as vastly more products and services -- such as mobile phones, laptops and gaming devices -- will require IP addresses to connect and communicate. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the current and most broadly deployed protocol for assigning Internet address and industry experts predict that the pool of available IPv4 addresses will be depleted over the next few years. Comcast has been working with the members of the Internet community to develop transition solutions that will provide continued communication with existing IPv4 addresses alongside the IPv6 addresses that will be supported on a growing number of networks.

"Today's demonstration is an important milestone in the testing and integration of IPv6 across Comcast's network and systems in preparation for IPv6 addresses and content becoming more widely available in the future," said John Leddy, SVP, of Network Engineering at Comcast. "We are making our network fully IPv6 enabled so that web-hosting companies, Internet sites and content providers that connect to Comcast's Internet backbone to deliver content and services can do so using IPv4 and IPv6 protocols. It's also an important step in being able to offer IPv6 address space in the future to Comcast customers who use our residential and business services."

To prepare for the launch of its IPv6 wholesale transit capability, Comcast worked with several of its current wholesale transit customers including The Planet, a global leader in IT hosting, and BitGravity, a global leader in online video.

"We host 17.8 million web sites, so ensuring our customers have the IP space necessary for their critical content and applications is crucial," said William Charnock, vice president of Technology for The Planet. "We are committed to providing our customers with IPv6 ready services before IPv4 depletion reaches a critical point. The widespread adoption of IPv6 depends on broadband leaders like Comcast enabling it on their networks."

About Comcast CorporationComcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products and services. With 24.1 million cable customers, 15.3 million high-speed Internet customers, and 6.8 million Comcast Digital Voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.